14th AIR SERVICE GROUP & 987th SIGNAL COMPANY

The 14th Air Service Group was activated in November 1942, at the specific request of then Brigadier General Claire L. Chennault, Commander of the China Air Task Force and Lieutenant General Joseph W. Stillwell, Commander of U.S. forces in the China, Burma, India Theater of Operations, to support aerial operations in China with Army Air Force support personnel who were fluent in both the English and Chinese languages.  As administrators, mechanics, engineers and electricians, who could easily communicate with both Chinese soldiers and civilians, these Chinese American airmen contributed mightily to Allied success by maintaining aerial operations from airfields across unoccupied China.    

As bilingual administrators, engineers and technicians they coordinated and supported the functioning of 14th Air Force airfields and as mechanics and specialized technicians they recovered, an repaired battle damaged aircraft and coordinated with Chinese Air Force personnel to maintain American and Chinese aircraft operating in Chinese  Theater of Operations. 

As a unit of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, the 987th Signal Company was raised from bilingual Chinese American soldiers and organized specifically for service in China, with the objectives of providing communication services and enhancing Liaison between American and Chinese military organizations.  Once in China, the unit deployed to Kaiyuan in Yunnan Province, where it established a company headquarters and operated support services.  From Kaiyuan, small two and four man field teams deployed, primarily on horseback,  to various remote locations to assist American Army Infantry Liaison teams working with Chinese Army units that were deployed along China’s border with Japanese occupied French Indo- China.   

Once deployed, the Company eventually assumed communications duties for all the widely scattered Allied ground units in the region.  In additions to coordinating ground and ground to air communications throughout their area of operations, they also coordinated communication for long-range reconnaissance patrols that penetrated deep into Japanese held territory.     

1. Mechanics of the 14th Air Service Group are photographed while in the process of replacing the propeller of a P-51 Mustang fighter.

2. Members of the 14th Air Service Group are photographed with Chinese Air Force mechanics of the China American Composite Wing in front of a P-51 Mustang fighter.

3. Chinese American soldiers of the U.S. Army Signal Corps are photographed on parade before being deployed to the CBI Theater of Operations.

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